Undocumented NIU Student Tells Her Story

President Barack Obama has an offer for many undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. They can qualify for work papers and a deportation reprieve. His administration’s been taking applications for that so-called “deferred action” since August. Of roughly a million immigrants who could qualify, though, only 180,000 have applied. A pair of young roommates at Northern Illinois University find themselves contemplating this question.

Both women have immigrant parents. Both grew up in Chicago. And both are college sophomores. But just one has papers to be in the U.S. She wants her roommate to take up Obama’s offer and send in the application. The undocumented roommate would apparently qualify but worries that applying could come back to haunt her. She says it’s hard to trust Obama as his administration deports people in record numbers.

Illinois Public Radio's Chip Mitchell paid the roommates a visit to hear more: